


Half Past Midnight (or Something Like That)

by bye_bye_firefly



Category: Homestuck
Genre: (duh), Alternate Universe - Human, Attempt at Humor, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Cussing, Cutesy, Hopeful Ending, Human Karkat Vantas, Minor Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Random & Short, Red String of Fate, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 22:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19049737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bye_bye_firefly/pseuds/bye_bye_firefly
Summary: Karkat meets Dave Strider, the man who lives on the same floor of the building next to him, at twelve in the morning one night. Hilarity Ensues.





	Half Past Midnight (or Something Like That)

**Author's Note:**

> because i wanna go back to 2015 baby!!

Some would say that staring at the ceiling was boring- not Karkat Vantas. He knew that at some point, shapes would start appearing where the dots used to be; demons or angels, clouds or hard ground, dreams or nightmares- who knew what was in store? The ceiling was the one place he had no control over. No, that wasn't right. It was his head that made the shapes in the first place. It was simply his eyes wanting to make something out of nothing because that gave him some form of stimulus. In the end, what he saw was what his subconscious wanted to see, in some weird way.

He finally sat up and threw his legs over the edge of the bed. He'd had enough ceiling for tonight. His staring contest lasted an hour this time but only because he was stressed.

Why was he so stressed? He had just moved into this apartment and was suspicious of his neighbours. He wasn't entirely sure if he should trust the ladies next door who often gossiped and whispered behind closed doors or even the man who lived on his own quietly. No one had spoken to him as he moved in and that smelled fishy to him. Sure, he didn't seem friendly- that much was clear to him- but he figured that they'd go with common courtesy and welcome him. Whatever; he'd figure out who they were once he got himself completely settled.

He wandered out into his kitchen, grabbed a cup out of an open box, and rinsed it out a few times before finally filling it up with water. He opened a window for some fresh air only to find out it was a cold night. "Shit, why is it..." He shivered and fixed his shirt.

"You alright?" 

He jumped and dropped his cup at the sound of the voice. He gazed around his flat and called out, "Who's there?"

"Behind you, dude. I'm not even in your house." The voice laughed behind him, revealing that he was in the other building.

"Oh, you asshole..." He sighed in relief and shook his head. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry." He gave him a cool smile and took a bite out of an apple. "I haven't seen anyone in that apartment for a while. When'd you move in?"

Karkat was very confused by this abrupt friendliness, especially from someone he didn't even know. Wait, wasn't he complaining about that earlier? A hypocrite, always! "Today, actually."

"Oh, cool." He jumped and put his apple down, saying, "I didn't even greet myself, shit. I'm Dave."

"Karkat." 

"Interesting name," he commented with a chuckle.

"Don't ask me how I got it because I have no idea." 

"Cool, cool," he nodded and swept a hand through his blonde hair. "How was the move, anyway?"

Why did this guy care so much? "It was fine. No one really spoke to me, though." 

"Uh, the guy next door...I think his name is..." He set his head down on the windowsill and groaned. "I can't remember his name. He's high most of the time, don't worry." 

"What?" That was a surprise. He thought he checked himself into a nice neighbourhood. Did even the best neighbourhoods have drugs inside them? 

"Yeah, he's nice but always high." Dave took a deep breath and shivered. "It's really cold out here..."

"I know; I thought it'd be nicer..." He finally picked his dropped cup of water up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Uh..." He leaned back, looking at something in his apartment. "Looks like midnight, my guy."

Who did this douchebag even think he  _was?_ What was up with the "my guy?" He shook his head and said, "I should really try and get some sleep." 

"Me, too. This is where we part ways, then." He grinned at him and snickered. "Good to meet you." 

"You, too." He didn't leave until Dave closed the window on his side. It felt like ending a call and afterwards, he didn't really know what to do. Sure, the first thing to try was sleep, but after that, he wasn't sure. He shut the window and dumped the cup out before setting it down by the sink. A part of him felt like he was going to come back here a lot.

 

Karkat found himself once again staring at the ceiling. The dots were making dinosaurs this time- dinosaurs and humans travelling along grassy meadows. It was like clockwork when he sat up and made his way to the kitchen again. This time, he made some peanut butter toast when he heard a small  _tink_ against the window. He looked out and spotted Dave sitting in his usual spot. It didn't seem like he was the one who tried to catch his attention, though. If it wasn't him, what had made the sound, then? 

He opened the window and was satisfied to find the night a bit more forgiving on his body. A warm summer night was alright with him. "Hey, Dave."

Dave perked his head up and smiled. "Hey, Karkles." 

"'Karkles?'" 

"What? Is something wrong with the name?" He leaned forward a bit as he drew a sip of water from his cup.

_"Everything_ is wrong with that name." Dave let out a laugh at what Karkat had said and put his cup down on a table nearby.

For a few nights, it continued like that. They were somehow always awake at the same time and they knew that the other was awake. It got to the point where Karkat would wake up in the middle of the night and no matter how hard he tried, he always managed to find himself drinking a cup of water by the window while he spoke to Dave. 

"Have you ever heard of the red string of fate?" Karkat asked the question one night after a few weeks of them coming to the window to talk.

"Isn't that like...an anime thing?"

"It's in books; get with the times, Strider," he shook his head and sighed in a pretend tone of disappointment. 

Dave laughed and asked, "Well, Karkles, please tell me what the red string of fate is." 

"It's like...a string that attaches two people together, I guess. It's not visible- obviously, I mean, that would be stupid-"

"You're rambling."

"Shh, I'm explaining it to you!"

Dave chuckled and rested his head against the windowsill as Karkat told him the ins and outs of this tale, finally ending the whole thing off with one question that flustered him: "Are you saying we're meant to be together?" 

"Don't put words in my mouth!" He tried to hide his blush but it didn't work very well. His jet black hair only emphasised the red in his face.

"Why'd you bring it up?" He giggled as he sipped at his apple juice. "Man, you're the cutest dude I've ever seen- no homo."

"There was  _so much_ homo in that, Dave. There's no hiding how homo that was." 

"If it makes it better, I'm wearing socks, so there's a second barrier." 

Dave was such an idiot, but he was also intelligent. He was a clown, but he was also really skilful. He wasn't funny, but he was. He wasn't interesting, but he could listen to him talk for hours. His voice was irritating, but it also was like pouring syrup on pancakes slowly. Dave Strider, in Karkat's mind, was a walking contradiction and there was no way around it. He wasn't entirely sure if he hated him or if he was his best friend or if he had a crush on him. Throughout the day, he would wonder exactly what they were going to talk about that night. He could already hear him in his mind, asking the same question he did for the past week: "Did you tell Janet off today?" He didn't even  _know_ a Janet let alone need to tell her off.

"Who even  _is_ Janet?" 

"Janet is forever gonna be the name for someone you don't like at your work. You can always come to me and straight up say, 'Fuck Janet!' Every Janet is a bitch- end of story. Who killed the printer by printing a bunch of the same papers with full black ink? Janet. Who managed to steal your lunch while you weren't looking? Janet. Who took credit for the work you did and didn't get in trouble for it? Fucking Janet! It's always Janet!"

"What makes you think, inside that shitty mind of yours, that every Janet is a monster?"

"It's not in my head, dude. Every Janet  _is_ a monster!"

One night, they managed to delve into the topic of their love lives. "I don't know but every relationship I try to get into fails. I look back on the shit I did and get so disappointed in myself."

"That's my thing: I don't really try," Dave admitted. "Girls fall for me, guys fall for me- I can't walk through the street without stepping on someone's grubby hands. Everyone wants a piece of the Strider."

"Oh, lucky you," Karkat joked. "I'm already swooning."

"I see you," he joked back. "I'm watching you and you are definitely mid-swoon."

Karkat laughed and shook his head. "I don't know. I do want to be in a relationship, though. I think it's just the idea of it that really gets me. It's the scenarios that I think of where my partner is comforting me after a nightmare or something stupid like that."

"I mean," Dave started, "I think it's a little sad that you instantly think of being comforted after a nightmare. Not even as a diss to you; I think it's sad that you wake up from a nightmare so many times each night that you imagine a world where you have someone to help you through that."

He took a deep breath and nodded. "I guess." 

He stared at him for a moment and said, "That's how you manage to wake up at the same time every night, right? You have a nightmare every night?" 

"I don't want to talk about it."

 

As he came to the window with a glass of water, he noticed that Dave looked a little more solemn than usual. Karkat opened up the window and asked, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Can you tell that I'm not okay?" He chuckled and held his head up with his hand. 

"Yeah, you look a little upset." He frowned and bent forward. "What happened?" 

"Nothing much, actually. That's not even me lying; literally, nothing happened." He stretched and looked across at Karkat. "Do you ever randomly get really upset in the middle of the day for no real reason?"

He nodded. It happened a lot more than he'd like to admit, but it happened. "I've figured out how to push it down."

"I'd love to be able to push it down, dude. Teach me your ways!" He joked about it like it was nothing, but Karkat knew that he wasn't happy. 

"You live alone, right?"

He nodded and said, "Always have."

Karkat frowned and looked down. "This might sound weird but maybe you need someone to hang out with." 

He tilted his head and rested his head down on the windowsill like he had so many nights before. "Yeah, maybe." 

"Like, a best friend."

"Yeah." 

"You know, you both have jobs..."

"Sounds great so far..."

"Very stable jobs that can pay for an apartment together."

"Perfect." 

Karkat groaned and finally said, "Motherfucker, I'm saying you should move in with me!" 

Dave jumped and started laughing. "You startled me!" 

"Shh! Firstly, do you want to move in with me?"

Dave chuckled and joked around. "Oh, I don't know..."

"Don't tease me."

He gave him the same smile he'd given him every night and said, "I totally want to move in with you, dude."

"Secondly, would you be willing to help me through my nightmares if you moved in with me?"

"Is that the exchange here?"

"I asked the question first!" 

He laughed again and lifted his head up from the windowsill. "I've wanted to help you since you hinted at having them. Now, is that the exchange?"

"No," Karkat said, "because what's happening is you move in with me to stay social and happy and I get to keep you around. There's no exchange happening here; I'm only helping you." 

Dave thought about it and started laughing. "You're seriously the cutest thing ever." 


End file.
